PS4 Release Date Pushed Back to February in Japan

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The PlayStation 4 will be hitting Japanese shelves three months after the console arrives in the U.S. in order to combat shortages.

Sony is turning their main focus to their biggest sales market for the holiday season, North America, according to Bloomberg News. The console will be released on Feb. 22, compared to the November release dates for North America and Europe.

In 2006 the PS3 fell behind a bit after suffering parts shortages. The plan to only reach 32 markets before year's end increases their chances of keeping them running smoothly.

"We had a tough experience of supply not meeting demand at an early stage of introduction for PS2 and PS3," Sony executive Andrew House said. "This time, we want to avoid that happening again. We want to launch it when we can meet the volume."

The PS3 and Xbox One are expected to sell around 3 million units each, according to analyst Michael Olson for Piper Jaffray.

In the last generation of consoles, the PlayStation 3 came in third place behind the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. Many anticipate the PS4 will be the clear cut leader of this generation.

"The U.S. is a huge market that Sony does not want to miss," said Koki Shiraishi, an analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities based in Tokyo. "The PS4 is for core gamers and lots of core gamers are from the U.S."

The PS4 will retail for $399 on launch day, and has already received rave reviews in all of the video game conferences.